I Was Only Doing My Job: Australia's Military History

3-JANUARY-1941. While serving as a Company Commander within the 2/11th Australian Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner, participated in the first major engagements of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War including the capture of Bardia, Tobruk and the disastrous campaign in Greece before making a name of himself during the Kokoda Campaign. In this episode, we focus on the rapid advance of the Australian Imperial Force across North Africa, and the disastrous Operation Lusture, or the Allied involvement in the Greece Campaign. --- Buy the Podcast a Ko-Fi here  For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon YouTube --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

3-JANUARY-1941. While serving as a Company Commander within the 2/11th Australian Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner, participated in the first major engagements of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War including the capture of Bardia, Tobruk and the disastrous campaign in Greece before making a name of himself during the Kokoda Campaign. In this episode, we focus on the first involvement of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War, the Capture of Bardia during Operation Compass. --- Buy the Podcast a Ko-Fi here  For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon YouTube --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

Earlier this month I sat down with Melissa Ratliff from God's Favorites: A History Podcast to discuss her current project, saving the Sundowner a motor yacht formerly owned by Charles Lightoller, who was Second Officer aboard the RMS Titanic for her ill-fated maiden voyage in April, 1912. She participated in the Dunkirk evacuation as one of the Little ships of Dunkirk before falling on hard times more recently.  Link to the #SaveSundowner gofundme  To find Melissa on TikTok click here  For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,MastodonYouTube --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

9-JUNE-1928. While serving as a despatch rider as part of the 4th Division Signals Company during the First World War, Sergeant Charles Edward Kingsford Smith sought a greater adrenaline rush and joined the Australian Flying Corps. Later serving in the Royal Flying Corps; British Expeditionary Force, he shot down four German aircraft before he was shot down and grounded due to injury.  Not to be stopped, "Smithy" after the war became an aviation pioneer and held the record for having the most aviation records including being the only person at the time to cross the Pacific Ocean from the USA to Australia in both directions and the first person to complete a cross-equator circumnavigation of the globe.  IWODMJ Discord Server member AyoshiStar requested this episode and is guest director. TwentyFiveFour Coffee website For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,MastodonYouTube --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

31-JULY-1969. While serving as a Door Gunner on an American Crewed UH-1C Iroquois Helicopter Gunship as part of the Royal Australian Navy Helicopter Flight Vietnam, attached to the 135th Assault Helicopter Company, US Army, Leading Aircraftman Noel Ervin Shipp was killed in action while providing gunfire to support the evacuation of troops on the ground and was observed to be continuing to fire even as the helicopter he was in plummeted to the ground For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

My Silent Hero is a project to honour and preserve the memory of those who have served Australia during times of war. Each of these servicemen and women had lives before they enlisted and, if they survived, after the war. They were, or are, humble human beings who, for a great many current Australians, are family. Yet now for many, their memory is just a name on a plaque, an initial or two and a surname.  My Silent Hero will help you remember them as people and as family. For more information check out https://mysilenthero.blogspot.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

8-February-1917. While serving as a Stretcher Bearer as part of 55th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. Corporal Ernest Albert "Ernie" Corey, was awarded an unprecdendent four Military Medals, the third highest award for gallantry in the British System of Awards for his tireless and continual devotion to rescuing wounded soldiers during the war on the Western Front. Despite the claim of being the Highest Decorated Australian Soldier, Corey was a timid man who took great pride in the knowledge that he received four Military Medals for saving people and never fired a shot in anger. For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

28-OCTOBER-1950, This is the conclusion of the life service and Legacy of Professional Soldier Lieutenant GeneralRobert Harold Nimmo, who served in both the First and Second World Wars in Brigade and General Staff Roles before his retirement in 1950. He would then go on to serve as the longest continuously serving Chief Military Observer in United Nations History when he took command of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) becoming the first Australian to command a UN Peacekeeping Mission and at 15 years and 2 months the longest serving UN Commander --- For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram --- Podcast Recommendation Hardtack Podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

29-SEPTEMBER-1946, This is part two of the life service and Legacy of Professional Soldier Major General Robert Harold Nimmo CBE, who at the commencement of the Second World War was a Staff Officer of the 1st Cavalry Division. An officer tasked with introducing armoured warfare into the Australian Army, Nimmo would continue to serve in staff positions at Brigade, Division, Corps and Army Levels to whom the end of the war in command of the first unit of the Australian Regular Army the 38th Infantry Brigade and command Australia's contingent to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force on a career that would span 52 years. --- For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram --- Podcast Recommendation Australian Histories Podcast Tanks in the PacificYouTube link --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

21-DECEMBER-1914, This is part one of the life service and Legacy of Professional Soldier Major Robert Harold Nimmo, who at the commencement of the First World War was an Officer Cadet at the Royal Military College Duntroon. Enlisting upon accelerated graduation he was posted to the 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment at the rank of Lieutenant and would sail to Egypt, eventually reaching Gallipoli on May 16. Possessing both front-line combat experience and administrative organisational skills, Nimmo would quickly progress through the ranks of the ANZAC Mounted Division, finishing the war as a Brigade Major in the 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade to whom the end of the war would only mean a continuation of a career that would span 52 years. --- For Show Notes, transcripts and photos check out the I Was Only Doing My Job Website at www.thedocnetwork.net. Access to the Discord Server Visit here Find the Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram --- Podcast Recommendation Australian Military History Podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

7-JANUARY-1945 While Serving with No 619 Squadron Royal Air Force, Flying Officer Colin Kelvin Flockhart, was the pilot of a four-engine Avro Lancaster Heavy Bomber tasked with a raid over Munich Germany when for unknown reasons his plane disintegrated over the French countryside during poor weather. This episode is dedicated to Alison Aitken, the Queen of the Australian War Memorial, and Colin's sister, who passed away on 9-9-2022. The I Was Only Doing My Job Podcast now has a Discord Server, the link to it is in the linktree. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

27-AUGUST-1942 While Serving with No. 3 (Army Cooperation) Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer Peter St George Bruce Turnbull, in North Africa became one of the first Australian Fighter Aces of the Second World War, with downing eight enemy aircraft, an act that would award him the Distinguished Flying Cross. He would go on to serve in No 76 Squadron RAAF in the Pacific, serving the defence of Milne Bay from Japanese invasion. While he would be killed in action, his devotion to his duty would be an inspiration to all he flew with. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

14-JULY-1918. The 30-ton German Heavy Tank was set to participate in the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonnaeux until it drove into a shell crater outside Monument Wood, becoming stranded, three months later it would be captured by the 26th Australian Infantry Battalion in the Allied counter-attack, in an action that has captured the imaginations of the Internet Age as one of those actions where the fiction is better known than the facts. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

19-OCTOBER-1917. While serving within the Australian Remount Depot, Australian Imperial Force as a Squadron Commander, Major Andrew Barton "The Banjo" Paterson served with distinction as part of the Desert Mounted Corps during the First World War. He is also widely known as the most famous Bush Balladist of the 20th Century, having penned the iconic Waltzing Matilda. Prior to his service in the First World War, he was an official Correspondent in the Second Anglo-Boer War, the Spanish-American War and the Boxer Rebellion. While he served the duration of the war, this is one aspect of the Banjo's life that is not known. For show notes, photos and transcripts visit www.thedocnetwork.net and visit our linktree for our socials https://linktr.ee/iwodmj to follow me for more Australian Military History Content you can follow me on TikTok/Instagram/Twitter @docwinters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message

My Silent Hero is a project to honour and preserve the memory of those who have served Australia during times of war. Each of these servicemen and women had lives before they enlisted and, if they survived, after the war. They were, or are, humble human beings who, for a great many current Australians, are family. Yet now for many, their memory is just a name on a plaque, an initial or two and a surname.  My Silent Hero will help you remember them as people and as family. For more information check out https://mysilenthero.blogspot.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iwasonlydoingmyjob/message